Race/Ethnicity of Students: USD Counts and Ranges

Effective 2010-11, students can check off multiple categories to identify their race/ethnicity instead of checking a single box that "best describes them." In Fall 2011, 1041 students did check more than one box, and that makes it much more difficult to answer questions such as, "How many black students attend USD?" and "How many undergraduates are Latinos?" The people haven't changed, but the data have. We can count each student once by grouping students in the following distinct categories:

Undergrad

Paralegal

Graduate

Law*

Total

Total students enrolled

5493

214

1526

1084

8317

Minority students

31%

42%

29%

32%

31%

White only

57%

55%

52%

59%

56%

Unknown

6%

3%

13%

6%

7%

International on visa

6%

0%

6%

3%

5%

Percent:

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Of all students enrolled in Fall 2011, 31% identified themselves as minority students by checking at least one non-White category, either alone or combined with other categories. We can also count the number of students who checked more than one category of race/ethnicity, including White:

The table below presents the range of students enrolled Fall 2011 for each race/ethnicity category. The lower number is the percent of students who selected only that category, and the higher number is the percent of all students who selected the category, either by itself or in combination with other categories. We can't ask students which category they consider to be primary, but the answer presumably lies somewhere within the range. That is, the percentage of the 5493 undergraduates who consider themselves to be primarily Hispanic/Latino must be between 8% and 17%.